i'm christie smith, i'll tell you what's behind it coming up in a live report. and a live look at the golden gate bridge, as christina loren likes to put it, january 18th, this, "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." good morning, thanks for joining us. it's 5:00. >> we check in with christina loren to find out just how frigid it is on this wednesday. >> it's cold, but not quite as cold as it was yesterday. we saw the low 20s. we actually shattered temperature records all across the board yesterday. today we're going to touch on a few temperature records, but overall, yeah, you can see right here, 31 degrees in fairfield where they hit 17 degrees at the coldest point of the day yesterday. the big story is the rain on the way. we'll tell you when it will arrive right at your doorstep,

more importantly how much we're expecti expecting. right now mike has an area that could slow you down. >> we'll warn folks about a disabled truck blocking your slow lane northbound 101 at hellyer avenue that's in san jose as you're coming off of 85 heading up towards capitol expressway that's where you should see flashing lights. we'll track it and let you know if it sticks around. have a wider look at your commute coming up. >> thank you very much. not a good way to start a morning, hundreds of pink slips for oakland city workers. christie smith is live in oakland with what's behind the massive layoff notices. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. city workers in oakland have been bracing for this for quite some time, the expectation is that a huge stack of pink slips will go out today, about 1,500. and then at the end of the month, about 200 city workers will actually lose their jobs and that's to make up for about $25 million that will be lost when redevelopment agencies are dissolved. this after the state subsidized programs are basically eliminated last month. cities use them for things like

building housing and fighting blight, and oakland considers nearly half the city blighted, so this is a big hit. city workers say they've given up a lot and there's not much more they can do. >> we have given up more than 20% and they're coming back for more. it seems like the more you give, the more they come back for. >> reporter: now, the workers will receive a courtesy notice and then a letter at home a little bit later in the next week. the mayor and the city administrator expected to decide which jobs will really be cut. the city is holding out a little bit of hope, though, that state lawmakers will devise a new redevelopment system. if not, these layoffs are expected to take effect on february 3rd. reporting live in oakland, i'm christie smith, john and laura, back to you. >> thank you. this morning search and rescue operations suspended on the sinking cruise ship off the coast of italy. it is too dangerous for the

divers to continue their work. 24 people remain missing, 11 confirmed dead. the "costa concordia" ran around on friday and slowly keeled over. an audio recording between the ship's captain and the coast guard official reveals the two men arguing over the captain's decision to abandon his ship while passengers were still evacuating. the captain has since been released from jail, but he does remain under house arrest. right now he may face charges that could include manslaughter. well, the u.s. coast guard says there are safeguards in this country to prevent such a tragedy as this. cruise lines that operate in the u.s. must pass safety inspections and get certifications including an annual testing of lifeboat deployment. a teenager hunted by police for a series of sexual assaults in oakland has turned himself in. 14-year-old brian glassper

surrendered at the juvenile hall. they say he approached his victims on a bicycle and robbed them and sexually assaulted them. police say they took the unusual step of releasing his name in hopes it would pressure him to give up. b.a.r.t. police are looking for three teenagers who beat up a woman on a train. police say the teens got into an argument with a woman, a bystander broke up the fight. the woman is expected to be okay. anyone who saw the alleged attack is asked to contact b.a.r.t. police. we may learn more today about a fatal attack on an elderly man that took place two years ago which actually ended up killing him. the case sparked racial tensions between plaqblacks and asians ie bay view neighborhood the yes-year-oye 83-year-old victim had left a muni bus stop when the attackers

attacked him. this led to community meetings to try to ease tensions. more details are expected to come out today as prosecutors lay out their case against joseph naso. he's accused of killing four women in the north bay in the 1970s and 1990s. marin county sheriffs deputies say one of the women was found with panty hose wrapped around her neck. the court papers say the panty hose contain the dna of naso's former rights. naso said his miranda rights were violated when he was first interviewed by law enforcement. investigators in healdsburg are opening a cold case. they have exhumed a woman's body and doing dna testing. a piece of paper that was found in naso's house that had a list of ten women on it including a reference to a girl in healdsbu healdsburg. new information is coming to light in the domestic abuse case

against the san francisco sheriff ross murkerini, in the affidavit we obtained, eliana lopez said her neighbor recorded video an incident involving, and it shows her emotional the incident in which he grabbed and bruised her right arm. she told the camera, quote, this happened yesterday. two times in 2011 and this is the second time this is happening. she went on to say, i told ross i want to work on the marriage. we need help. i've been telling him we need help, and i'm going to use this just in case he wants to take theo away from me because he said that he is very powerful and can do it. he's vowed to stay in office while fighting the charges. his wife says the incident is a misunderstanding and is calling this a private matter. it is 5:06 right now. a martinez family can thank their smoke alarms for saving

their lives. this is an update to the breaking news we brought you yesterday morning. it helped to wake up the family as a fire was raging outside. reports say the batteries were replaced the night before. all five family members got out safely, but one person was taken to the hospital as a precaution. their two-story home was a total loss. it is 5:07 right now, and i guess it's really feeling like christmas outside, even though it's not christmas, it feels like winter. meteorologist christina loren is here to tell us about it. >> it feels like winter around here, and you've been asking for the rain and, well, we have a lot on the way. as we head through the next five, six, seven days, rain in the forecast each and every day. 42 degrees in san francisco. chilly in santa rosa, 32 degrees there. 24 in gilroy this morning. and we do have a freeze warning in place for the south bay, the santa clara valley to be specific until 9:00 a.m., but you can see by about 11:00 a.m. temperatures will be in the mid-50s down through the south

bay, the warmest region across the bay area today. rounding out with mid-50s. we're going to see the clouds really thicken up later on this afternoon. we're done with the brilliant sunshine we've had for the first part of the week. and then things really start to change, so here's the deal when it comes to the timing of our first system. it looks like it's going to arrive for the greater bay area as we wake up tomorrow morning we'll be tracking the showers for you. we'll show you where it's downright dangerous to drive because we are expecting quite a bit of rainfall as we wake up tomorrow morning. by friday we'll get a nice dry break, mostly cloudy conditions, and then the rain will return by the early afternoon, it's the second of a series of storms. the third saturday, the coldest and most potent storm comes through, rain, wind, snow levels down to 3,500 feet. we could see maybe 1 to 3 inches of snow high atop mt. hamilton, so we'll time that out for you. i've got your hour-by-hour rainfall forecast and your seven-day coming up, but first mike has some issues for you.

>> the embarcadero off-ramp should be opening as we speak, waiting for confirmation, but it looks like crews are on time. oregon expressway northbound or southbound that will be closed for another hour until the construction spot is cleared. and to the top of your screen we've got a disabled vehicle 101 at woodside, the reports are that the person and the car are completely off of the roadway on the shoulder. definitely cold at the area. we'll see how long it takes to clear. monitoring that as well as the other side of the bay, oakland, 880, past the coliseum, a smooth drive northbound and southbound. we'll take a look at that coming up in the next report, guys, back to you. >> thank you very much. 5:09 right now. organizers for the america's cup yacht race want you to swap your car for a bike. they're working on a plan to keep as many cars as possible out of the city during the event. organizers will encourage bike sharing and open a new path in one lane of the embarcadero to make it safe for pedestrians and

bicyclists. a new muni line would run from cal train to fisherman's wharf on the existing tracks. so far, no word on the coast of all of this, but organizers say they'll pay for the extra service by fund-raising. an artist in england creating works of art with the type of high-tech equipment you may own yourself. david hockney, it's pretty cool. he uses the apple ipad to create the landscape paintings. he first draws it on the tablet, then it's blown up and printed on paper. the 74-year-old artist was a little skeptical at first about using this device, but he soon found out just how cool it can be. >> at first you think it's a bit of a novelty. it took me a while to realize it's quite a serious tool you can use. and it took me a while to get quite skillful on it. it's not just a novelty. i realize this is a very, very clever tool you can use. >> ipad's changing the world and art. the exhibit also features his previous works which span more than 50 years.

it's 5:10 right now. a new warning this morning after a mountain lion was spotted near a local university. and a main route into yosemite national park now closed. we'll have the details coming up. plus, the bay area city now considering stricter regulations when it comes to tobacco sales. a live look outside. a little bit warmer today than in san francisco. the bay bridge off in the distance. we'll fill in the details on weather and traffic coming up. and for the latest news, traffic, and weather, find us on ea.cenbcbayarea. "and what's your name?" "oh, it's flo." "and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today.

welcome back, everyone. a live look at the cruise liner still on its side this morning. 11 people were killed in this cruise line disaster, 20 still

missing. we'll have continued coverage for you. 5:13 right now. well, the threat of heavy snow forcing the closure of a major roadway at the yosemite national park, tioga road was shut down in anticipation of the coming storm. it's the main entry to the park from the eastern side of the sierra nevada. park officials say the storm could make driving virtually impossible. the roadway is usually closed during the winter, but the lack of rain will keep it open -- actually has kept it open until right now. >> that's the remarkable thing about tioga, usually it's all shut down. but we've got the big juicy storm coming our way! >> likely it won't be the only highway shut down. we're going to see a lot of snow and snow levels. ooh, let me tell you about this. we could pick up upwards of 6 feet of snow above 7,000 feet. you've been holding on to the season ticket waiting for the

snow, boy, oh, boy, we've got it for you. check ahead. and bring the snow chains with you if you are heading to the tahoe area because we've got a lot of snow coming in courtesy of three storms on the way. 31 degrees in napa, grab the jacket, and leave the umbrella home for today, but get ready for tomorrow. that's when we're expecting it to get active around here. we'll see a few light showers trickle into the north bay later on tonight, but probably not until 8:00 p.m. staying dry for the most part today, so if you have -- we've got about 12 to 16 hours to get it done today before the rain showers start in the north bay. that means, hey, you don't have to wash your car. you don't have to water your plants heading into the weekend. that's the good news today. temperatures will be on the mild side. you'll likely need the jacket all day. 53 degrees in redwood city, 55 in san jose, and let's show you what's headed our way. three storms, three days, all impacting just about every city across the bay area. the first one is going to bring

most of the rain up to the north bay. we set the futurecast in motion for you. we meet back here tomorrow morning, tracking showers on the radar. by 4:00 p.m. the bulk of the moisture from the first system comes through. that will give us a nice dry break. heading into your friday at 9:00 a.m., good news for your morning commute on friday. but look at what's coming in. we've got another storm on the way 4:00 p.m. into friday. and although the futurecast doesn't go as far out as saturday night, that's when the big storm comes in, and look at how much rain we're expecting before saturday night, 11:00 p.m. friday, you see all this yellow and orange? you find that on the key, yellow/orange up to 2 to 5 inches in some bay area cities. so, looking very promising for us making up the deficit that we're running over the course of december and the month of january. take a look, though, that rainy pattern continues all the way through tuesday. so, this is the last dry day. take advantage of it. mike, how we looking on the roads? >> much better now than i think it will be for some of the rain. but we'll take you to the south bay, where we were looking at

the earlier disabled truck for northbound 101 at hellyer avenue. it was block the slow lane, i say "was" because it looks like everything is clear now and the speed sensors aren't showing delays up towards capitol expressway, 87, 85, 101 looking really nice. and the lighter overall movement northbound your commute direction, so the south bay without incident right now. we're looking at sunol, and an easy drive through the sunol grade, out of the altamont pass, 30 minutes from livermore to the double lynn interchange and no interruptations for the 580 to the hayward area and the castro valley "y," 880 is where we'll join the drivers past the coliseum and an easy drive northbound from high street and southbound with the headlights. you see a lighter volume of smooth driving. construction crews clearing from 980 to 10th, no major delays. the golden gate looks nice, look at that coming over from the north bay. you can see the lights across the bridge and no delays from highway 12 all the way into the city. back to you.

>> thank you very much, mike. it's 5:17 right now, and markets your opening slightly higher. and for details on the rest of the news before the bell, we turn to cnbc. good morning, jackie. >> good morning, laura. yeah, the futures are a touch higher after stocks closed up on tuesday, although those gains were limited. now, the banks dragged on the markets yesterday after citigroup reported very disappointing warnings. asia held steady but europe is mixed and we'll get data in the u.s. on industrial prices and the housing sector. while goldman sachs actually reported its earnings just a little while ago, those earnings were sharply lower from a year ago. but still beat street estimates. the dow rose 60 points yesterday to 12,482. the nasdaq up 17 to 2728. meantime, e*trade is hoping that customers start talking about more grown-up issues like retirement planning. the online broker is moving

beyond its stock trading roots planning to double its financial consultants to over 400 by the end of the year. they want consultants to target clients with over $250,000 in investable assets, but it will help those with less. back to you. >> thanks a lot, jackie. appreciate that. one east bay city can make it tougher to light up the cigarettes. the dublin city council wants to place restrictions on where cigarettes are sold. the proposal would ban sales within a certain distance from homes, schools, parks or anyplace where children are present. a final vote is expected later this fall. dublin became the first city in the bay area to declare secondhand smoke a public nuisance back in 2006. it is 5:19 right now. warning about mountain lions near the uc santa cruz campus. two women walking their dogs spotted two mountain lion is. they were on a trail about 6:00 last night, their dog was off leash and women say the mountain

lions appeared to be interested in their dog. they left and luckily no one was injured. >> probably interested in those doggie treats as well. it is 5:19. rumors are flying about who the raiders are interviewing for the coaching job. plus, the man making headlines for his rap about the 49ers, we're going to talk to him coming up next. and today's the day a lot of internet sites go offline. keep calm. carry on. we'll take a look in just a minute.

welcome back, everyone. looks like things are picking up near sfo this morning as we take a live look outside. another cold start to the day, not raining.

not just yet, but that storm is coming. we'll check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. 5:22. the raiders are casting a very wide net in the search to replace hue jackson, kind of like the former al davis used to do. reggie mckenzie will interview two broncos assistants. the nfl network and espn saying the raiders want to talk to former nfl head coaches marty mornhinweg and mike tice, mornhinweg coached the lines in 2001-2002, and the bears promoted tice to offensive coordinator. he was the vikings head coach from 2001 to 2005. 49ers fever is catching all over the bay area, so much so that a san francisco rapper, lifelong fan providing the theme song for the 49er faithful. bailey wrote "who's got it better" after hearing coach jim harbaugh ask the very same question in the locker room, the

players answered nobody. he added a catchy beat and lyrics and jed york beated it's an awesome song. things took off for bailey. even performed the song before the saturday saints game. >> knowing they know the words looking at the views by youtube. spreading, and they taking to it. >> bailey may get a second chance to perform his hit at sunday's game. >> oh, i'm feeling the magic. night work there, kid. you may have noticed big websites like wikipedia and craigslist offline. scott mcgrew, we've been talking about this moment for weeks now. >> still, there are, john, some people logging in unaware of the big fight between internet companies on one side, washington and hollywood on the other. let's take a tour this morning starting with wikipedia. it's taken million of english language entries offline this morning protesting the two proposed anti-piracy laws, sop-a

and protect ip. craigslist is calling out news corp., the recording industry, the movie industry including i need to point out our parent company comcast which is on the other side of this fight. this is craigslist or what it looks like this morning, down in the blue, if you click through, you can actually get to craigslist so it's not completely offline. google didn't go quite as far this morning but it has put a black bar over its logo and created an online petition against the two laws. we've talked about this for weeks, but if you're just now wondering what this fight is about, it's over two proposed laws that were designed to protect legitimate copy right holders, people work hard to bring you movie and music from piracy, particularly piracy overseas. the problem is not with the goal itself, but the means to get to that goal, the way the law's written is considered by many to be too vague, putting lots of innocent content in danger. protesters also have a major issue with congress refusing to hear from experts in the matter

though they've heard a lot from hollywood and a lot of content owners. darrell issa got so upset he called his own hearings in to the matter actually inviting experts, he's writing a bill called open which would protect internet users' rights online. >> thank you very much, scott. still to come, pg&e admitting it lost maps for miles of pipelines in the bay area. we'll have details next. tickets for the big game sunday here at the stick go on sale in just hours. i'm bob redell, coming up, the lucky fan who won't have to bother forking over any coin. that story coming up. if you're going to be attending that game, make sure you fork over a coin to get yourself some rain gear. we've got a lot of rain on the way. this the last dry day as we enter into our wet winter pattern. we'll tell you what that means for your city coming up. and while the rain will be

hitting the roads, i've got already something on the roads that you're going to want to lloid. wrehat s easthaund coming up. dinner? candles? i wanted it to be special. oh, what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. mmm, it's good. honey, i love you and... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. yeah but honey, i love you and... is that what i think it is...it is... "today" progresso rich and hearty... 4 new flavors, you can lose yourself in. what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

some good news this morning, san jose search-and-resuce crews finding a man who went missing for nearly 24 hours at one county park. we've got the very latest coming up. plus, they claim it will be the largest the bay area has seen in years, we'll have the details in the new occupy protest. a big shake-up at yahoo!, and it may not be the last, we'll have the latest. a live look outside, 880 through oakland, oh, you can't see it, but the 49er fever's in the air. catch it. it's wednesday, january 18th. this is "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. and thanks so much for joining

us. 5:29 right now. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm john kelly, we'll check with christina loren what kind of weather we'll have. >> catch it, good phrase, hopefully we'll be catching it all over the place on sunday. you'll be catching a few light showers if you are headed to the game, that could make for interesting action, though, out on the field. temperatures are cold this morning. grab your jacket, but leave your umbrella at home, and i'll be telling you when you'll need it. mike's got an area where debris could slow you down this morning. >> or should slow you down, you want to get around it. it's a 2x2 metal door from what i understand and it's on the transition ramp from northbound 880 to southbound 238. crews are arriving on scene to clear it. >> thank you very much. right now we've got breaking news to tell you about, a south bay hunter who disappeared yesterday is now in safe plans.

we've got the latest on the search, good morning. >> reporter: laura, good morning. yes, some good news. the man missing for nearly 24 hours found this morning just about an hour ago here at the county park is where you see these hunters here, that's where they load up and get ready to go out. takes them 30, 40 minutes to where they can hunt for ducks and that's where this man went. the 30-year-old san jose man, he went 8:30 yesterday morning, his family reported him missing 9:00 last night. with me now is san jose fire captain anthony molendres. good morning. can you tell us a little bit about what happened? >> yeah. last night at around 9:00, 9:18 the grandparents of the 30-year-old called san jose pd and requested help finding him because he was missing, so pd responded out here. found his vehicle in the parking lot, and requested the sheriff's department to send up their helicopter and search for the

individual. >> reporter: and i understand calstar was able to track him at 4:30 this morning, but it was really cold, of course, since yesterday. it could have been much worse really. >> it was like finding a needle in a haystack. it could have been very, very bad, but this individual was very fortunate. he was found by calstar in his boat 3 1/2 miles out. >> reporter: wow, okay, very good. and boat got stuck is what it looks like happened, right? >> as far as we know, it appears that his boat was stuck, we're not sure exactly what the details are of it being stuck. >> reporter: thank you very much. the man was able to come here. an ambulance took him away but he actually was able to walk out of the slew, so he's in stable condition is what we understand and that's the very latest from here, live at alviso marina. >> thank you very much. an interesting story unfolding here, yahoo! co-founder jerry yang no longer with the company but a shake-up

possibly a good thing. business and tech reporter scott mcgrew is in the newsroom to help explain this one. good morning, scott. >> good morning, john, it's strange to think that the starter of yahoo! stepping down would be good. lots of people bitter. yang resisted selling yahoo! to microsoft several years ago. that's a deal that would have lest investors a lot richer than they are now. now, yang may not be the last board member out. several others may be planning an exit or having an exit pl planned for them. yahoo! has a new ceo, scott thompson. he's not the board's boss. the board is his boss, but thompson has a lot of influence as do major stockholders who have been hinting at a proxy fight to kick some mored by members out, so we continue to watch big shake-ups happening over at yahoo!, laura. it's 5:33 right now. 5-year-old hasanni campbell

disappeared in oakland three years ago, a new cable tv docudrama hopes to bring them home. a veteran reporter with the "oakland tribune" is featured in the clip promoting the show "finding our missing" a special on hasanni campbell. she covered the case from the very beginning. >> while we hear hundreds if not thousands of missing children every year in oakland, they are very, very rarely 5-year-olds. >> the 5-year-old was reported missing by his foster father in august of 2009. the tv-one docudrama talks about his poster father's arrest, but the alameda district attorney did not charge him because of a lack of evidence. the group that formed to search for campbell hopes that someone will speak up now that it's been quite a few years. the show will air at 7:00 on tv-one. occupy protesters in san francisco say they're taking over city streets all over again. "sf weekly" reporting protesters

planning what they say is the largest street protest since the anti-war rallies in 2003. occupy protesters reportedly will picket banks throughout the city on friday. they are calling the day of action occupy wall street west. well, another embarrassing mistake for pg&e. "the san francisco chronicle" reporting the company admitting it lost track of more than 300 gas pipelines. it found maps of 140 miles of uninspected urban pipes on top of the maps of 160 miles of pipeline it admitted losing track of in december. pg&e has reduced pressure on those pipes until they can actually be inspected. this latest announcement could mean more fines for the utility. meantime, "the mercury news" reporting pg&e has revised its gas pressure procedures in populated areas. the company admitting some pressure settings were just too high for densely populated areas. as a result, the utility says it's adopting stricter

guidelines for inspecting and monitoring urban gas lines and it's increasing training for its employees. state regulators had ordered pg&e to review its pipelines following the san bruno explosion in september of 2010. later today tickets go on sale for the niners big game against the giants but one lucky fan scored four tickets directly from the team's owner. nbc bay area's bob redell joins us live from candlestick park to explain. good morning, bob. >> reporter: good morning to you, laura, this is what he did to win the tickets. he had last saturday's game on the tv while his wife was giving birth. pretty remarkable. for the rest of us in order to get a seat to this sunday's nfc championship inside the stick behind me when the niners will be taking on the giants you're either going to have to be a season ticketholder, most likely, or have a substantial amount of change you want to fork over for those tickets. at 10:00 this morning tickets

will go on sale through ticketmaster for season ticket holders only. whatever remains, assuming not all 66,000 seats are sold, they'll go on sale to the general public at 1:00, again, through ticketmaster only. as we mentioned, four of the tickets are already spoken for, vince cava won them from team owner jed york. york had a contest asking fans why they deserved the tix and this is what he tweeted back, my first child was born during saturday's game. the doctor let us watch the game during labor. it would be awesome to go see the nfc champs. >> saints and then the actual post present to that was my son in my hands, so do you know what, all around, but my son rules. so, i take him number one overall. >> reporter: we'll speak with vince live in the 6:00 hour. now, according to one report, the secondary market for tix for

the nfc championship, they're going to be averaging around $610. so, if you're not a season ticketholder and you don't get lucky at 1:00 and you're the general public, assuming there are any tickets left, that's most likely what you'll have to pay to get into the stick. the team is warning fans do not buy counterfeit tickets, you want to buy them from a reputable broker. bob redell. if you need your niner fix now, logon to our website, nbcbayarea.com, click road to super bowl xlvi. >> i already got my ticket all locked in for the la-z-boy. i'll be sitting there, a cool beverage, and snacks over here. it looks like a good day to be inside, cold out there but wet for football. >> hopefully you're jumping out of the la-z-boy as we're scoring touchdowns all over the place. it's cold out there, yes. here's the deal when it comes to umbrellas at candlestick park.

they say they're allowed as long as they do not obstruct the view of the person behind you, but i don't see how any umbrella even the clear one would be pleasant in front of you, so just keep that in mind it's a good idea to be kurtious courteous to your f fans. not quite as yesterday morning, when we had freeze warnings in place. travel cautiously, a freeze warning in the santa clara valley. you could find black ice, it's cold enough all around the bay area. and then the clouds really start to increase later in the day. we're not going to get as much sunshine as we did yesterday, unfortunately, and then things really start to change. as we head through tomorrow. so, here's the deal, we want to help you plan around the showers. tomorrow is a washout. by friday morning we'll get a nigh break for the first part of the day but showers return and then the whopper storm comes through, the coldest and most potent carrying the most moisture on saturday. we'll tell you how much we're expecting and what it means for

the sierra nevada and when we might get another dry break, but it looks like the wet pattern is going to stay with us for quite some time. the seven-day forecast in the next report. but let's check in with mike. >> let's take you to the peninsula, the oregon expressway off-ramp, good news, the construction crew has stopped earlier. they let them go because it's so cold. we're looking over the disabled vehicle northbound 101 right at willow as well and we have that still over on the shoulder, very cold for that person involved and no updates but no slowing and no lanes blocked. that's better news. we'll move over to the east bay with oakland 880 and a live shot past the coliseum, we traffic flowing nice with the taillights and headlights, close to 65 throughout, so it's about 13 to 14 minutes from 238 to downtown oakland and the bay bridge toll plaza, but slowing near antioch, your commute kicked off after 5:30 and there you have it, speeds into the 20s now already. back to you guys.

>> thanks so much, mike. 5:40 right now. a new poll looks at who is leading the gop race for president. we'll have the details in a live report. plus, the governor getting ready to give his state of the state address this morning. what he is expected to focus on. and a public health epidemic. the bay area county that's warning parents this morning. so, this is delicious

okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way.

lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one. good morning. welcome back, everyone. this morning mitt romney outpacing his republican opponents by a long shot in that race for president, but there is something that could derail his lead. some say it's his wealth. "today in the bay" tracie potts live on capitol hill. the question is when will we know exactly how much romney is actually worth? >> reporter: well, it won't be long. he's promised now to disclose his tax forms in april after they're due, he wants the most recent one in there. he's been hammered about that on

the campaign trail by the other candidates who have already unveiled theirs or promised to do so in the near future. you know, romney's being portrayed by his opponents as the rich guy who can't connect with average americans who are struggling to make ends meet. and some of this criticism comes after romney was asked about his speaking fees, money he gets to make speeches. romney said it's not that much. it turns out it's $374,000 that he described as not much, seven times the average u.s. salary, and now there's a democratic pac, political action committee, out with a web video criticizing what he calls not a lot as a lot to this most americans. also romney has said that he's paying about an effective 15% tax rate which rick santorum says is a lot less than i'm paying. he's also still under fire, of course, for heading bain capital, the investment firm that shut down some companies,

laid off workers. newt gingrich saying it was exploiting those companies. rick perry saying in south carolina that they're not real happy, as he put it, not crazy about this bain issue. john? >> thank you, tracie. governor jerry brown will give his state of the state address this morning. the focus expected to be on education. the governor is expected to call for less statewide testing. he's argued in the past the current standardized tests rely too much on memorization and not enough on critical thinking. the governor will propose redefining how the state measures school performance by reducing the number of standardized tests students take. the state of the state address starts at 10:00. we'll live stream it on our website nbcbayarea.com. and also don't forget to tune in to the news at 11:00 this morning for all the highlights. immediately after that speech governor brown will hit the campaign trail. he'll start a two-day swing through southern california to drum up support for proposed tax hikes. the governor says if voters do

not back the five-year, $35 billion tax increases in november, it will mean even more cuts to education and other state services. it is 4:45. vice president joe biden and his wife will be visiting the bay area today. the vice president will be in san francisco at 11:30 to raise money for the presidential campaign. we can tell you the fund-raiser, you got to dig deep. it will cost attendees between $2,500 and $10,000. later tonight, the vice president biden will meet with leaders in technology and innovation to talk about the economy. miss biden will not be at that fund-raiser, instead she'll visit wounded warriors at the palo alto va hospital, it's about the first lady's plan to help veterans and families. if they stay long enough they may see the storm we're all waiting for. we want to check in with

christina. >> we have three storms on the way. the pineapple express that we've been telling you about, we've got it out there. let's talk about how cold it is. 35 in hayward. 29 in livermore, and 24 degrees in gilroy. but the good news is, if you like the good news, if we're 10 degrees warmer than we were at this time yesterday, you probably won't notice all that much of a difference because we're still right around freezing. cold enough for a heavy coat, but, hey, we'll be able to climb into the 40s and 50s by noon because we've got more clouds overhead. that's keeping it a little bit more mild this morning. courtesy of our first area of low pressure that will bring us some showers i think throughout the second half of the day, especially up to the north bay, we'll see some very light prefrontal precipitation and then the bulk of the moisture arrives as we head to tomorrow morning looking towards a sloppy commute as we meet here tomorrow, but mike and i will be tracking everything for you. 53 degrees. redwood city, 54 degrees, los gatos, and 55 in san jose. so, it all works out like this. let's time the storms out for

you at your doorstep. we're going to see the first showers especially up in the north bay by about 8:00 a.m. thursday. the front will continue to slide to the south as we head throughout the day on thursday with heavy rain at times especially up in the north baf. the coast is going to get slammed, this is the first of three storms. we show you the futurecast, nice dry break for friday, until 9:00 or 10:00 eem, and then the rain returns. the second system has a little bit more moisture. up to 2 inches of rain in sonoma county, in san jose it will be more like half an inch. but look at what happens as we head through the second half of the day on friday, the friday night. you see the orange, the yellows, yeah, 1 to 2 inches potentially in san jose and that's before we get to the third storm which moves through on saturday. so, i just want to make everybody aware that the pattern is significantly changing. you'll be using your raincoats as we head through the next few days. in fact, we keep the rain in the forecast all the way through

tuesday of next week. this is your last dry break. let's check your drive with mike. >> all right, christina. enjoy the drive i guess right now, folks, because you've got the dry roadways in the south bay, no major issues. a blip is showing up, though, southbound 880 going from 280 to 17. the south bay itself incident free, we'll watch, though, for the slowing and other signs for 101, 680, capitol expressway should be creeping up over the next half hour. right here a 16-minute drive from the altamont pass to livermore and the dublin interchange. the entire stretch shows green, that means speeds are close to 50, 55 in the area, but it averages out to 55 and speeds coming down as the morning commute slowing even further over the next half. the travel times in the east bay, the bay bridge, speeds close to 60 miles per hour in most spots, but the crowds are starting to get to the roadways. the toll plaza, out of san francisco, no delays and no metering lights, obviously,

another half hour for it to kick in like-. and the other side of the bay, 101, traveling out of sfo, good steady volume, and all the way up the peninsula and the city. back to you. >> thanks very much. it's good news, bad news for bay bridge commuters, the bad news caltrans says it needs to shut down the upper deck over presidents' day weekend. but here's the good news, the shutdown could actually shave six months off the reconstruction project. that means the new eastern span could open in late 2013. the proposed closure would close westbound lanes starting at 8:00 p.m. on friday, february 17th if the work goes off without a hitch, the lanes would reopen at 5:00 a.m. the following tuesday. santa clara county declaring a public health emergency over the drug ecstasy. the county filmed this 30-minute documentary called "ecstasy lives out of balance." this was to highlights the myths and dangers of using "e." after a survey found one in four

teens admits, yes, they have taken it. health officials want to get the message out that ecstasy is very dangerous and it can also be mixed with other drugs and could become deadly. this man supports this documentary and hopes his 17-year-old niece and all of her friends get the message. >> you probably feel invincible and feel the worst can't happen to them but then you hear about the people taking ecstasy at rave parties and dying and overheating and stuff like that. i don't know if it takes a trip to the morgue for them to wake up or what, you know? >> well, all high schools and middle schools in santa clara have a copy of this documentary and officials are hoching tping teachers will learn it as a learning tool and start conversations with their students. it's 5:51 right now. coming up, gossiping may actually have its benefits. a new report from uc berkeley. and san francisco coming down with a bad case -- i think it's a good case of play-off fever. and things looking black on

the tetinoced. kernwevehal tanoticed. we'lketaoo a look in just a minute. against dental problems, my dentist said use act. [ male announcer ] act mouthwash restores enamel and makes teeth up to 2 times stronger. act. stronger teeth and fresher breath in every bottle.

welcome back, everyone, a couple of beautiful pictures to share with you. you'll love this, san francisco, of course, getting into the spirit of the play-offs. city hall all red and gold last night. just glowing. coit tower also had a little tinge of gold as well. now, you may remember just two years ago the city buildings, of course, were all lit up in orange. that was to honor the world series giants run. fun stuff. >> yeah, it looks really nice. switching gears, 5:54, promising treatments for pets may offer hope for people with spinal cord injuries. uc san francisco researchers have been working on an experimental drug that will soon be tested on a small breed of

dogs known to have spinal cord problems. it causes them to drag their back legs. the drug helps block the harmful protein that causes the spinal cord to start destroying itself after initial injury. scientists have already tested the drug on mice. >> we found that if we started treating these animals with the drug beginning three hours after spinal cord injury that the animals showed a remarkable recovery of hind limb function. without that treatment, these animals typically would drag their hind limb. >> pretty amazing. clinical trials on dogs with spinal cord injuries will start this spring at texas a&m university. scientists say if the treatment is successful in injured dogs, it could one day be used to treat people with spinal cord injuries. all right. it's 5:55 right now. and how about this one? it turns out that gossip, they say it may be a good thing. no joke here. it's being researched at uc berkeley and they say gossiping actually lowers your stress and

may actually help others. hmm. specifically researchers say spreading information about a person who's behaved badly, can actually come, from, well, a good place, you want to warn people about untrustworthy or dishonest. it focused on people who spread negative information about people who aren't part of that conversation. >> all right. only the truth here. wikipedia, one of more than 1,000 websites gone dark this morning. scott mcgrew joins us with more. wikipedia, craigslist all in the dark. >> all in the dark. different websites handling it in different ways. wikipedia's english language site in the dark and google placed a black bar over its logo. they are proposing the anti-piracy laws. truthfully the fight is already over. politicians had a pretty good idea which way the wind was blowing on this before sites started protesting. this is the biggest victory for

wikipedia users since america won the revolutionary war against the dutch. yahoo! starts the morning 3% higher after jerry yang stepped down suddenly tuesday. san francisco-based wells fargo reporting it made 20% more money last quarter thanks to making more commercial loans. it wrote off more than $2 billion in bad personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, that kind of thing in the same time period. that's better than last year when wells fargo gave up $3 billion of bad loans in the same time period. back to you. >> thank you very much, scott. it's 5:57 right now. still to come on "today in the bay," a bay area city is handing out hundreds of pink slips this morning. i would have the details in a live report. plus, the winning tweet, you on a man convinced 49ers he deserved free tickets to sunday's big game. and the bulk of the moisture from the first storm stays to our north today, but we've got a lot of rain on the way. i'll tell you how much we're expecting at your doorstep and how much fresh powder's headed to the sierra nevada coming up.

and as we approach 6:00, we've got a lot of traffic on the way as well. i'll show you where it's already kicking in even as we spk. ki